Selective system for use with thin strips or sheets of paper and method of using the same



Aprll 11, 1950 F. s. CRANE 2,503,658

SELECTIVE SYSTEM FOR USE WI H THIN STRIPS 0R SHEETS OF PAPER AND METHODOF USING THE SAME Filed Oct. 8, 1947 /4; No 0 O O O TRUST COMPAW O 0' O0 0 0 l9 0 O O O O O OLJZZQ'ID O O PAY TO THE ORDER OF 0 o o o o o EDOLLARS 000000 oooooo oooooo 000000 31 zg.5'.- I E ooooo m if 0 000 O-//o O o o 0 Z 2/" edfi 'zwzze 00000 O I I AWE/Y5) Patented Apr. 11, 1950SELECTIVE SYSTEM FOR USE WITH: THIN STRIPS OR SHEETS; OF PAPER ANDMETHOD" OF USING THE SAMEv Fred-S. Crane, EuclicLOhio ApplicationOctober 8, 19 47, ,S erialiNo. 778,616.

5. Claims.

My invention relates" to a: selective "system for use with thin stripsor sheets" of paper andtO methods of using'the same, and it is a primaryobject of the invention to provide methods for preparing commercialpapers, also called account papers, 50 that they-can be sorted bytheuseof a needle; Such papersare' madeof paper stock,- by which Imean light'weight paper'stock such as is usedforbank checks; deposit slips,accounting; machine paper-in" general; and" other like papers used in"accounting and merchandising; and the like;v :as. distinguished fromcard stock; cardboard; and other" stiffer" and heavier paper stocks;

a novel code for'use in-selective"systems ofthe character describedAnother obj eat of' the invention toprovide means for makir'ig apreliminary di'g-it'sort' in" a code set up for numerical sorting:

Another object is to provide means for sorting t a stack of-' checks orlike? paper articles while keeping all the members of the stack undercontrol; or=with a=minimum of displacement of members" of the stackaside from that movement necessary for completion of 'a sorting step:

Another oliiject is to" provide meansiorfacilitating the separation of Ia stack of? thin paper members into two completely separated portionsafter a preliminary step wherebycertain membershave been partlyseparated: from the remaining: members of the stack.

Another-object is'v to". provideeirnprove'd dividers for a' mass off.checks: or the. like;v wherebya roughldivisionimay be'preservedi in a.pack or systemofi'checksr or? the? like i in t which :individual membersare liable Lto:he'frequentlyremoved and returned to: thGJIHHIsS}.thusrpreservingzthe members morei err-less" inisequence:

Other objects midi-advantages of -the invention will appearuponconsideration:of: the-following specification; and? of." theannexed: drawings, which. are madeta part 'ofthis application and in:which. similami' reference: charactersindicate similar. part'sa In": thedramng'si Fig. 11' iszan't elevation of -ia...stack of sheets;.such

Such papers must be sorted bythe aid of gravity; as they' cannot bepropelled 2 as' checks or deposit slips. or the like, partly brokenaway, and'viewed from the front,

Figure 2', an elevation of portions of each of a series of' such'sheets;showing" in each portion one-of the'columnsof. perforations" of the codeof my invention, and" alsoshowing how the perforations may be'connected'in pairs by removal ofthe'intervening, material; so'i as to form slotsfor selecting operations; byindicating inthe column any one of the ninedigits of" the Arabic system of notation, as" for" use in a selectivesystem,

Fig: 3, a-face view ofa' check; showingtheirelative positions: oftheprintedmatter'and ofithe features of my invention,

Fig. 4; a similar view ofa deposit slip,

Fig. 5, aview of a stackmember having'a slot inthe tens column; and"Fig. 6? a detailo'f another stack member.

The system of myinventioncomprises sheets indicated generally byreference character Ill,

which'may be arranged in astack; as indicated in Fig 1, and which arevintended for sorting by means-of a needle ll. Preferably'the sorting isdone by merely holding a stack'ofcards'in the hand, so' that" all cardscan-be kept under immediate manual control, but' that is not essential.

Thesheets-are'each'provided with a field consistingordinarily of holes12 arranged in parallel vertical rows when the stack is held in positionfor" a sorting operation, 1. e;, the holes are in columns'or rowsstanding at right-angles to the adjacent margin of" the respectivesheets, and there are six holes" in each column. Preferably there aresix such'parallel columns andthe holes are-about one-fourth inch'apartvertically and laterally, thus making, a field about twoinches square,orsmall" enough to be easily formed between the sides of a check ofordinary size. It willbe understoodthat the-field may be located ateither end of a check or like commercial paper. Such-an'arrangement ofthe field eliminates" all need" for marginal notches and perforations;and makes is possible "to set upa'code fora large varietyofselections'all in very small space and in' compact arrangement, inplace of the arrangement oi fields about several .orall the margins of asheet or card; While the holes are' herein referred to as being punched,they mayobviously be-made in'other ways, and even maybe provided 'inthe'sheets when beingmade from stock;

To provide a code that shall take care of all nine digits in onecolumnwithout" making any forations I have devised a novel code, which can ofcourse also be used in the columns for tens, hundreds, etc., in adecimal system of notation. According to this code the absence of slotsindicates zero, and a slot I3 is punched between the uppermost hole andthe next one below in the units column, as shown in Fig. 2, forselection of a card indicated by a digit 1, or by a number whose lastdigit is 1; a slot I4 is punched out or otherwise provided between thesecond hole and the third in the column for a final digit 2; a slot ispunched at l between the third hole and the fourth for numbers ending in3; slots are punched at it and I! for digit 4 (i. e., 1 plus 3) a slotis punched at l8 for digit 5; slots at l9 and 20 for digit 6 (i. e., 1plus 5) slots at 2| and 22 for digit '7 (i. e., 2 plus 5) slots at 23and 24 for digit 8 (i. e., 3 and 5); and slots at 25, 26 and 21 fordigit 9 (i. e., 1 plus 3 plus 5). The space between the fourth and fifthholes in the column (i. e., the fourth space from the top of a column)is never slotted.

An important advantage of the code described is that it is nevernecessary to connect more than two holes in punching out the intervalsfor a numerical system, and the same can be made to apply to othersystems, as hereinafter described. When more than two holes areconnected into a slot it is very difficult to avoid the formation ofshoulders at the intermediate hole, such as are liable to cause sheetsto hang up on the needle in sorting, and so delay the work or causeerrors in the same. See Fig. 6, where a part Of a check is shown that isslotted through four holes in the units column, and where shoulders areleft at one of the intermediate holes that would hang on a needle.Another advantage over other codes is that only four insertions of aneedle are required for a complete operation of sorting paper accordingto the indications in the final numeral column of the sheets of thestack under treatment, and four insertions for other columns, asdescribed below.

Each sheet is provided between the field of perforations and the end ofthe sheet next above the field when the sheet is held with that end upwhich is nearest the field, with a vision and lifting hole 28 that ispreferably larger than the perforations l2 and which is located abovethe middle of the sheet so that a needle may be inserted through hole 28and the sheet will hang down from the needle and be balanced evenly likea pendulum. The thin sheets that are used as commercial paper are muchless adapted for needle sorting than cards, both because of theirlighter weight individually and because of greater adhesion betweensheets clue to greater tendency toward the exclusion of air from theintermediate spaces.

Another use for the hole is as a vision hole to make sure, beforewithdrawing the sorting needle from the stack during a sortingoperation, that all the selected sheets have made their proper drop.

As a third function for the vision and lifting hole one may take sortedchecks or packages of sorted checks and the like commercial paper andhang them on a rod or hook, or can place them on such a device and addthereafter a device to prevent removal. Such a procedure can save tonsof rubber bands per day if generally adopted. 01',

of course, checks so provided with a hole at top center (preferablyoversized) can very conveniently be fastened together by split metalfasteners or other fasteners, as for storage by a customer of a bank.The top central location is 4 of advantage over other locations forholes otherwise having registering pelforations for all these uses andfor sorting cards and the like, but especially for sorting thin papersheets.

All the sheets have an upper left hand corner removed as at 29, thisbeing for the purpose of preliminary determination as to whether anysheets are facing the wrong way or are wrong end up. When a stack hasbeen assembled, any sheet that is so misplaced will show a solid portionat the upper left-hand corner and can be taken out and positionedcorrectly.

Another wayof determining whether all sheets face in the same directionand are right end up is by the use of registering holes at the upperright-hand corner, as at 30, through which the selection of the sheets.

sorting needle may be passed if they are all in proper position; but ifany check is bottom end up or facing in the wrong direction the needlecannot pass it.

Dividers ofsmooth card stock may be provided, such as that shown at 3|.These dividers will have two square upper corners, with a perforation at32, at the upper left corner, and otherwise may be perforated as thoseof the sheets ill, with field perforations l2, a slot [4' indicating 20,lifting and vision holes 28 and a testing hole 30, all as shown in Fig.5. By means of the holes 32 all the dividers can be removed, e. g.,prior to The fields are mechanically cut to indicate |02U-38-4U, etc.,as a convenience in replacing sheets that have been removed or are to beadded to the mass of cards.

Fig. 4'illustrates' a deposit slip such as can be used to good advantagewith the checks that have been perforated and slotted in accordance withmy described invention. In that figure the slip is indicated by 33, ithas a vision and lifting hole 34, a corner removed at 35, a testing hole36, and a space at the lower left-hand corner with a line at 31 for thesignature of the depositor.

While features of my invention may be used in various fields and forvarious purposes the main 7 utility at'present contemplated is banking.For the past twenty-five years, the American Banking Association, the U.S. Bureau of Standards and other private and U. S. Governmentorganizations have recognized the advantages of using bank checks ofstandardized size, for the saving of time and money.

Each party having a checking account at a bank is first provided with asupply of checks and deposit slips in which each check and deposit slipis provided with a field of perforations slotted so as to indicate thesame master number.

Now let it be assumed that a bank has a pack of checks bearing accountnumbers ranging from 1 to 999. First, they are to be stacked evenly withthe field at the left. Holding them lengthwise in the left hand with thefield at the top, insert the sorting needle through the pack at thesecond hole in the extreme right hand or units column. Releasing thehold with the left hand permits all checks containing a one slot in thatdigit to drop until stopped by the needle encountering the top of theslot, or approximately one-fourth inch. Now, before removing the sortingneedle, look through the combination vision and lifting hole which islocated above the field. If clear vision is afforded through the entirepack it shows rop of the selected checks. Hold the pack in the left handand remove the needle from the sorting hole and insert it into thelifting hole. The selected checks will now be permitted to drop entirelyfrom the pack but are kept in control and imverticala positioniin thelefr hands. Take? the liftedfi checks. and. placeathemiimfrcnt r of;theses leeted checks; bring-c the edges: of the pack: into alignmentagaimandlwe: are-ready tmpnooeed with thesortingzoperation;

Repeat the v same: process; described; above, this timeinsertingtthenee'dleathroughiitheethird hole in; the; units-i column,vsightingrthrough the visionrlifting" ho'leilifting: thechecks; catchingthe a selected; checkssemdl: placingrthe allftfld" checks at: the frontofithepaokt. Repeaaagaimin the fourth hole;. and: then; again.v time;skipping the fifth hole and using the sixth-hole.

whenzthis, process; hasibeen completed. in; the units; proceed; to:-the; next; row? to the: left: of the: units? column; this being;the.tensf column and: repeat. The; same; process isardone. in; thethird'fitomzrightzor hundreds? colummandiafter these; twelve. needle-zinsertions; thee-pack will be accurately sortedzfrom: Ltot99,theznumbers-starte ingzon, tcp oi th'GI'StHICKJHJITd'.pTOCeEding-ItO9.99.. on the.bottom;.

The fourth: column: of;. holes from; the: right isfonipreli-minary'digitsorting;. Banking isallbased ontheclearingehouse-hour of-:.10.:30.A. M..each day Therefore;.imorderstohandiea; big. volume today it may be necessary to have perhaps adozenpeople-startimtojsort thousands of checks. By the. use. of. the; firstslot; inthe; fourth column (Which: may berformed in-des-ired: checks as;indi+ oated in; dotted. linesiin Fig; 3:) I;.dr.o.p;a1l1 of the accountsbetweenltand as these are. the. utility, telephone; and; electric; lightpeople; who have volume; Thesecond; slot fdrops out; all accountsnumbered fromrlo to QQ- andlthe'third drops; out the accounts:numbered-frome1'00. to 999. My specialicode, described-above; issmdesigned that I can now takezeach. of;the.-thr.e.e packs-of; checksobtained through my preliminary-digit sort just described, and, by;inserting, the" needle oncein the. five. slot1of eachfdigihaspliteachpackage into two groups." of cards one'grQup including cards punchedin thefourthncolumn to? indicate final digits 0. 17074; andthe othergroupsto indicate final digits 5 to9.. dropping out, andthe-OI-drremaining'on the needle; This canlbe furthercarriedoutin thehundreds: column by sorting them from- 100 -900, thereby-making;packageszcontains ing checks for. accounts numbered: 100-200; 200- 300;etc. Whenwthis is completed.- everyone can go to work on his=package,,and whenthey all finish the numerical'sequence of; allithe checkswill-be: uninterrupted; This-eliminates allasorting bottle-necks.

Whenthe. deposit: slips are. included in. the same mass withthechecks-to be sort'edthey are first placedat the back. (bottom) ofthe-pack. of checks: Thaw-hole mass isthen-sorted inthe usual. way and.when the. sorting; operation is finished .the depositrslips for'eachindividual account will be found nexteto vand immediately followingthe checks for-that-account. This elimihates-the presentpracticeWhereinthe-book-keeper must watch: two. piles (chechs-v and. deposit"slips); at the same. time-to -=compare signatures; I causing. much:eyestrain. and resultingv in, errors. This system. puts. ally thesignatures in on. spot and simplifiesthe work. of checking thesignatures on checks and deposit. slips.- Checks and deposit slips arevthenfiled by the bankin'the-same drawer until theend-ofthem-onth.Whenit comes time to send the depositonhisfcancellednchecks, thedepositslips are needled-out in one 1 operation by providingsone slot;38. in=the.:fourth column (after the ones used; for. digit breakedown)then; the

checks areumailedsand the-deposit slips filed awan As can be seen fromthe above description; three sorting...columnstprovideiksorting:off'a'ccounts numbered. from: 1? to:'999;. order to provide about.25.,000- difierent account; numbersyl prone posetoi prefix= each number:with: ailetterzof: the alphabet: indicating: the letter: witha which thecustomer'spells his surnam'ee; thusith'ere' willibe numbers A-d to:A'-.-999l;.B L.tosB4-999' etc2 througli the alphabeti. making. about25;0O0Z In: order to accomplish this and to sort'izthem' haveein ventedan alphabetical sorting? system: used in combination: with figures;Thez: sorting: 0t figures has been: described: above and. II will nowdescribe howrthealetters ofxitheiialphabet are'rflrst sorted: beforeproceeding with: the numerical sort; In: the: event; of smaller volume;of: work; of. course';.ther.numerica1.sortr mayi'bez made? first and thealphabeticalllcireak-downu sortedaafter the; accountnumberst have beenplaced: in: se

quencez.

The fifth. and.isixthtcolumns.-.of 'holes fromithe right providerthenecessary slots-Zforalphabetical sorting. My: simplified" alphabeticalassigningi' is accomplished. by: simply prefixing'thesletter? 'A toi-999' different numbers for. all surnamestbes ginning? with A, etci for:each: letter: of the alphabet regardless of the spelling of the nameandregardless of how manyzhave theisame: name. The alphabet is brokendown into fivexdivision's ofifive letters each: (y:-z:;;beingiconsideredone letter.) ascfollows:x

The individual checks and deposit slips, in the fifth column,- which isused to segregate the five divisions ofthe alphabet are provided withslots in five differentpositions to" indicate the five divisions. Thefive divisions are needed and dropped out of the-pack'one at'atime, andkept separate from the pack; This is accomplished by needleinsertions mthe second, third; fourth;

fifth, and sixth holes.-

The individual checks' and deposit slips, in the sixth column; are:provided" with slots' in five differentpositions; and are' used toselectindividual letters of the "alphabet; Sorting" each packcontainingtadivision of 'the alphabet separately, the first slot(second; hole) was used to select the firstletters of the division beingsorted, that is'A; for'thefirst' division; F for'thesecond", K forthe'ithird, P for-the fourth; and U for. the fifth division. Using" thesecond slot (third hole) thesecond-"letter offa division can beselected, B, G; L',-Q; or V; depending onwhich division isbeingisort'ed.It can r'eadily be-seen how this sixth" column; selects individual.letters after the alphabethastbe'enidivided into the five sections by.use of the:fifth sorting'row;

For" some purposes; .iti'mayrbez desirablet to" add perforations toa.:ver.tical column; through. silt holes inia row withla patterniofslotsanywhere: except in the fourth space" from: thetop is acharacteristic of my special .cod'e, andlis .a' highly; desirable;arrangement; Obviously, also; the: number of, vertical-columns. may, be"increased when it is" desired; to. classifycards. according to otheritems" thancthose above described.

The topi of. a rowyjastheitermis usedherein, issthat end of thetrowwhichissuppermost-cdure ing; a .selecting ,-.operation;usuallyrtheeendlnearest to a margin of the sheet, though not always ornecessarily so.

The small field required for my special code in the case of bank checks,deposit slips and similar commercial paper is of advantage in that itmay be placed at one end of such a paper where it will be out of the wayof the body of the check where significant data occurs. At the sametime, the perforations forming the field do not interfere with printingof immaterial matter between the lines of perforations.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many variations maybe made in the system and methods of operation .herein disclosed, allwithout departing from the spirit of the invention; and, therefore, I donot limit myself to what is shown in the drawings and described in thespecification, but only as indicated in the appended claims. As aninstance of such a variation, the slots described as being formed in thefifth and sixth columns could be in other columns, if available, andthey could be distributed over more than two columns if that werethought desirable for any reason.

This is a continuation in part of my application, Ser. No. 611,191,filed August 1'7, 1945, for patent on Sheets and the like for sequencesorting.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is:

l. A sheet for classification purposes having a row of six perforations,the perforations in the row being united in pairs to form elongatedslots according to a code in which the first of a series of successivemembers is indicated by a slot connecting the first and second holes ina row; the second, by a slot connecting the second and third holes; thethird, by a slot'connecting the third and fourth holes; the fourth, byslot respectively connecting the first and second and the third andfourth holes; the fifth, by a slot connecting the fifth and sixth holes;the sixth, by slots respectively connecting the first and second and thefifth and sixth holes; the seventh, by slots respectively connecting thesecond and third and the fifth and sixth holes; the eighth, by slotsrespectively connecting the third and fourth and the fifth and sixthholes; and the ninth, by slots respectively connecting the first andsecond, the third and fourth and the fifth and sixth holes.

2. A sheet for classification purposes having a field of perforationsarranged in parallel rows each including six perforations, theperforations of a row being united in pairs to form elongated slotsaccording to a numerical code in which zero is indicated by absence ofsuch slots; numeral one by a slot connecting the first and second holes;numeral two by a slot connecting the second and third holes; numeralthree by a slot connecting the third and fourth holes; numeral four, byslots respectively connecting the first and second holes and the thirdand fourth holes; numeral five, by a slot connecting the fifth and sixthholes; numeral six, by slots respectively connecting the first andsecond and the fifth and sixth holes; numeral seven, by slotsrespectively connecting the second and third and the fifth and sixthholes; numeral eight, by slots respectively connecting the third andfourth and the fifth and sixth holes; and numeral nine, by slotsrespectively connecting the first and second, the third and fourth andthe fifth and sixth holes.

3. A stack of sheets for classification purposes, said stack includingdivision sheets interposed between parts of the stack, each of thesheets of the stack having a row of six perforations so located as toregister with homologous perforations in the other sheets; theperforations in a row being united in pairs to form elongated slotsaccording to a code in which the first of a series of successive membersis indicated by a slot connecting the first and second holes in a row,the second by a slot connecting the second and third holes, the third bya slot connecting the third and fourth holes, the fourth by slotsrespectively connecting the first and second and the third and fourthholes, the fifth by a slot connecting the fifth and sixth holes, thesixth by slots respectively connecting the first and second and thefifth and sixth holes, the seventh by slots respectively connecting thesecond and third and the fifth and sixth holes, the eighth by slotsrespectively connecting the third and fourth and the fifth and. sixthholes and the ninth by slots respectively connecting the first andsecond, the third and fourth and the fifth and sixth holes; the divisionsheets each having homologous perforations in an upper corner, and theother sheets having the corresponding corner removed to permitsimultaneous engagement of all the division sheets by a sorting needlewithout engaging the other sheets.

4. A stack of sheets for classification purposes, said stack includingchecks and deposit slips, of like size and shape, each of the sheets ofthe stack having a row of six perforations so located as to registerwith homologous perforations in the other sheets; the perforations in arow being united in pairs to form elongated slots according to a code inwhich the first of a series of successive members is indicated by a slotconnecting the first and second holes in a row, the second by a slotconnecting the second and third holes, the third by a slot connectingthe third and fourth holes, the fourth by slots respectively connectingthe first and second and the third and fourth holes, the fifth by a slotconnecting the fifth and sixth holes, the sixth by slots respectivelyconnecting the first and second and the fifth and sixth holes, theseventh by slots respectively connecting the second and third and thefifth and sixth holes, the eighth by slots respectively connecting thethird and fourth and the fifth and sixth holes and the ninth by slotsrespectively connecting the first and second, the third and fourth andthe fifth and sixth holes; the deposit slips being similar to the checksin size and shape and each having a signature line positioned to locatethe depositors signature on a deposit slip in similar position to hissignature on a check.

5. A method of sorting a stack of classification sheets consisting ofchecks and deposit slips of like size and shape so as to arrange them insequence with each depositors checks in a group and'with his depositslips in a group immediately adjacent to his group of checks, saidmethod comprising a first step of providing each classification sheetwith a row of six perforations, so located as to register withhomologous perforations in each of the other sheets, then uniting theperforations of the sheets in pairs according to a code in which thefirst of a series of successive members is indicated by a slotconnecting the first and second holes in a row, the second by a slotconnecting the second and third holes, the third by a slot connectingthe third and fourth holes, the fourth by slots respectively connectingthe first and second and the third and fourth holes, the fifth by a slotconnecting the fifth and sixth holes, the

sixth by slots respectively connecting the first 9 and second and thefifth and sixth holes, the seventh by slots respectively connecting thesecond and third and the fifth and sixth holes, the eighth by slotsrespectively connecting the third and fourth and the fifth and sixthholes, the 5 ninth by slots respectively connecting the first andsecond, the third and fourth and the fifth and sixth holes; thenseparating the checks from the deposit slips; then placing the stack ofdeposit slips back of the stack of checks; and then needle .10 sortingthe combined stacks.

FRED S. CRANE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 16 fileof this patent:

Number Number 10 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Sparrow May 10, 1904Nevin July 14, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Germany Oct. 15, 1930France Jan. 4, 1940 France Feb. 10, 1941

